Aspyr Media has moved on from the old school Tomb Raiders and have recently set their sights on The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. The Legacy edition ports the original 2011 release into the Steam library for old and new fans to pick up the controller on this classic.
They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard and we’re heading in a different direction!
Gameplay
War in the North takes place just before the events of the Fellowship of the Ring. The game starts with the three main characters meeting with Aragorn in the Prancing Pony. It’s an exploration into the darker side of Middle Earth and you can take up to two friends along for the ride with you.
This game is the epitome of old school RPGs. All three main characters have their own, unique skill tree. Creating the perfect squad for you and your friends is easy. When playing solo it is a bit annoying to constantly be changing between the characters to level up. That being said, it is expected, as is the way of the early 2000s RPG. This old style RPG might be a bit of an issue for fans just delving into the genre. Unlike games such as Expedition 33, War in the North is quite a linear adventure. As you make your way through Middle Earth you do find ‘hub’ worlds that allow you to meety NPCs and side quests but it pales in comparison to newer games and their open world exploration. Similarly, the side quests don’t really do anything unique and leave little to the imagination.
Combat
Combat is where War in the North starts to fall apart. The issue is that this game hasn’t lost its love for creating areas with an overly dense enemy population. Eventually it just starts to feel like it’s trying to fill time. Battles that have little effect on the overaching story go on for much longer than necessary and eventually starts to grow stale.
The overall lack of variety does this game a disservice. As mentioned, this game is dense and it does have a lot going on. However, it doesn’t offer much to keep things from feeling like they’re becoming stagnant. The journey to the end of the game starts to feel like a slog. The enemy population issue also makes the game start to feel like a hack and slash if you spend too much time in one are.
Graphics & Audio
Graphically, War in the North is pretty solid. A lot of the graphics feel quite crisp and like they’ve been updated. The cutscenes are really smooth and lead into the game well. Similarly, the locations feel detailed enough that even if you struggle to enjoy games because of old graphics it does enough to keep it feeling fresh and new rather than a game from 2011.
Longevity
As previous mentioned, War in the North has a pretty long campaign, boasting an around 12 hour story completion time. Fans of this game will eaisly be able to pick it up and get right into the nitty gritty of everything. For newer fans that perhaps aren’t as clued up on Tolkein’s world, it might be a little bit difficult to become fully immersed in the game, cutting down the playtime. Another thing also mentioned, the gameplay does feel quite repetitive which makes it easy to become disinterested.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition (what a mouthful) is exactly what it says on the tin – an action RPG set in Middle Earth. Aspyr have done some quality of life updates that really help game such as the on demand character swapping. However it also still falls short with things such as a lack of manual save. This means that War in the North gets the Thumb Culture Gold Award. A good little RPG that deserved a new lease of life but is missing some needed QOL updates.
Check out our other PC reviews here to find more games for your steam library.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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